mxtine

Thirding the recommendation for The Illustrated Woman. It's one of my favorites. I also love Black Forest: "Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress." It's not as piney as it sounds, there is an initial forest scent, but the ambergris and black musk tame it pretty quickly. Thirding the recommendation for The Illustrated Woman. It's one of my favorites. I also love Black Forest: "Thick, viscous pine with ambergris, black musk, juniper and cypress." It's not as piney as it sounds, there is an initial forest scent, but the ambergris and black musk tame it pretty quickly.

II NO HAYATA KILLS THE NUE AT THE IMPERIAL PALACEBrown musk, antiqued amber, black pepper, tolu balsam, and West Indian Bay. Interesting, this is my first time being the first reviewer! This is very masculine and intense upon first application. I can tell there is black pepper, brown musk and bay. Several minutes later, it fades into a very faint and dry amber with a hint of balsam. It would make a lovely "skin scent" for a man.

In the imp, this is all orange zest with a drizzle of orange blossom honey. I don't have much experience with linden, but once applied to my skin I get a fir/pine tree note which must be linden. It's not woody, but more like the needles. I can smell the honey in the background with some fuzzy warm amber and some orange zest. I get no vanilla whatsoever. This is a really Christmas-sy scent. It evokes a "cabin in the woods" feeling at this point. Once dried, the linden/fir note fades more and I'm left with a powdery amber and honey scent, with a touch of orange and vanilla. I really love this after it dries completely and the linden and orange are gone. I'm not terribly sad I didn't get a bottle, but if I see one at a good price down the road I may pick one up.

Initially, Thousands of Lights is a beeswaxy floral - champaca is always a creamy honeyed floral to my nose and it's one of the flowers I can actually tolerate if not in a 100% floral blend. I applied the oil to my skin and for 2 seconds I thought, "why did I not buy a bottle of this?", then it turns cinnamon spicy! There are no spice notes listed, but I'm getting a smooth ambrette, with a drop of frankincense, and borderline soapy sweet floral. It's almost getting into holiday candle territory like all cinnamon scents do. I think the bergamot is making this soapy, because almost all of the Lab's citrus notes (except lemon) tend to do that on me. So, I must wash this off. I had high hopes because of the ambrette, frankincense, beeswax and champaca, but I just amped the soapy-cinnamon notes.

Beth has bottled Brownie Batter. Brownie Batter Chocolate Ice Cream to be exact. It's a deep, dark, sinful death-by-chocolate batter that you lick off the spoon and the bowl. There's a creamy note here, not milky, but smooth as silk. I think the oude is giving it a slight woody smell, nothing that really stands out though and nothing that takes away from the gorgeous chocolate. Don't wear this while pms-ing. You will want to drink a bowl of brownie batter. eta...just purchased 2 bottles from the Post.

This is really interesting. I also think of "spiced bubblegum"...I guess that's the daemonorops and dark chocolate plus cloves and pepper. The chocolate is a dark sludge in the imp that I had to roll before testing, and it's similar to the stuff in Boomslang. As it dries, the resin becomes more apparent, like a candied clove incense. I kind of want a bottle of this now.

Reviewing scents when the sharks are circling is always fun. Some things smell REALLY good and others smell REALLY bad. The first time I tested this was earlier this week when it arrived in my mailbox, and all I could smell was chemical leather and something sharply herbal. It smelled nothing like what was promised. I pulled it out again tonight and re-tested, and it seems to be getting better. There's still a weird sharp smell, but I can smell the clove, patchouli, copal, skin musk and fuzzy sage. The chemical-ness burns off as it dries, and I see a glimmer of hope that this could age well. Something about this oil reminds me of Ivanushka - I'm not saying they smell the same because I'm not doing a side-by-side comparison, it's just that they are both forest scents with soft, animalistic-musky fuzziness. I'll definitely keep this bottle around.

Blossoms in Springtime - Glowing Vulva-esque upon first application (cream note), but then turns into something more like Giant Vulva (creamy skin musk). It's gorgeous. Body, Remember - Incensy, tropical-floral coconut. I hate florals but I'm down with champaca. Smut - Cherry Smut. I love teh Smut, and I love cherries. This is playful and bright with your typical Smut drydown. L'Essence de L'Engouement (bptp) - Both the perfume and bath oil are delish. Sweet, candyfloss strawberry sugary stuff. Bourbon Vanilla Bath Oil (bptp) - This isn't as vanilla-y as I thought it would be, but it has a nice sassafras note that I love. It's like Tombstone without the cedar, and it's lovely for layering. Aphrodite Kypria Atmo Spray (bptp) - Buy this. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. It's intoxicating - sugary cinnamon musk sherry vanilla. Nothing like baked goods surprisingly, which is a huge win for me. I haven't tried any other Lupers yet, waiting for decants from the BPTP stuff I didn't buy yet. I need to order the Chocolate whatever bath oil for sure

Expensive man soap. Very refreshing and green.

... Her scent is striking and bold with a delicate yet dark undertone: five roses with soft jasmine, warmed by vanilla, fig, tonka bean and mahogany, spiced with a drop of coffee bean. This oil gave me a bad scent reaction, just like Saturnalia and Stranger Fig. I couldn't bear testing on my skin, because the fig was mixed with jasmine and it just overpowered my nose. It's really a schizo scent in the imp - rotting floral, sickly sweet fig, and coffee. This will be the end of my testing and reviews tonight...

This is very perfumey, thanks to the orange blossom. The patchouli is not even dirty, it's fresh and sharp, or is that just the orange? Something herbal here too. Ambergris is always a gorgeous note to me, so it smooths out the sharpness once applied to my skin. It's a lot better on skin than in the bottle, but since I'm more of a fan of the aged patchouli, this isn't anything I'd need.

This is one of the weirder perfume oils I've smelled! It's peppery, Schwarzer Mond-like (opoponax), but with a dark aquatic side spiked with cloves. I dislike almost all aquatics because they make me sneeze but this is so interesting regardless! Further drying leaves myrrh, opoponax and cloves. While I'm not sure if see myself wearing it often due to the weird aquatic sneezy phase, I want to keep the imp to see how it ages.

Smells grapey in the imp. Makes me gag a little because I can't do BPAL wine scents. I love red musk, and strawberry is hit or miss and so is grapefruit. I can't really smell any grapefruit until I tested a bit of the oil in my hair. The strawberry note is making this grapey and kind of like bananas. Must wash off.

There is a cherry-colaness to this scent - it must be the sweetness of apricot with the mildly spicy ginger. The ginger is more like the flower and not the root. The jasmine is behaving itself here...it usually goes horribly wrong on my skin, but combined with ginger and apricot it's a lush tropical floral. Drying, it's getting a bit too syrupy on my skin and jasmine is starting to get bolder. I think this would make a lovely Summer room scent.

Smut 2012 I took a gamble ordering this after the reviews came in. I don't do well with "almondy" scents at all, they make me nauseated. Amaretto can sometimes smell like cherries though, which I adore. It smells like marzipan in the bottle, which worried me. Once it touched my skin, the blast of bright cherry hit my nose and I was in love. It dries to the usual Smut, but with an undercurrent of juicy red fruits. Smutty goodness + candy sweet cherry

I love creamy skin scents so much, and this is everything I hoped for. The cream note is very similar to Glowing Vulva and Love's Philosophy, but as soon as it gets on my skin, it smells more like Giant Vulva. The beeswax/honey notes are very clean - it's a light, polleny honey with flecks of vanilla. The amber is one of the best I've smelled in a while. I definitely want a 2nd bottle of this, because it's one of those perfumes that I need to slather.

Stunning is right! It's no secret that I love coconut, and I've been looking for the perfect coconut scent. This is a winner - it's dark coconut with just the right amount of incense, tropical floral, sweetness and the ambergris pulls everything together with a warm musky base. I'm going to be wearing this all Summer!

This smells like lemon scented powder. I'm not a fan of anything powdery that's not from resin so this is not something I'd ever want to wear.

This smells like a tub of milk chocolate cake frosting. While I love dark chocolate and cocoa scents, I'm not a fan of anything milk chocolate with the exception of The Candy Butcher - everything else is too sweet and runs the chance of getting plasticky on my skin, which this does.

This definitely has sassafrass...a very light touch, and I love that. The oil smells like Tombstone without the cedar, and the same vanilla that's in Snake Oil. My skin soaked it up after I applied it après shower though. I keep getting light wisps of the scent as I eat my hummus so it's not completely gone. This will be nice for layering scents.

Ooooh, this is so pink and pretty! It's strawberry cotton candy, and reminds me a bit of Velvet Unicorn or Kitty! The Lab's strawberry notes either go plasticky on me or work very well, and this is 99% perfect. In the beginning there's a second where I wonder if it's going to be plastic doll head, then the sugary candy takes over. I want to slather myself with this but I can tell a little goes a long way.

The first spritz is HELLO CINNAMON, but right away I can tell that this isn't a yucky candle or baked goods cinnamon that I tend to dislike. It's like cinnamon cotton candy and a delicious bourbon vanilla with a raisiny Pedro Ximenez sherry in the background. I have to be careful with this stuff though. A bit of it drifted on my face and burned my lips. My kitty cat did not like it and bolted out of the room.

My beloved red musk! On my skin, the carnation and honey tames the sexy red musk. As it dries, the myrrh takes over and gives the scent a sensual powderiness. I'm surprised how light the throw is, or maybe my nose is messed up. It doesn't last long on my skin like other red musk scents do. This isn't that remarkable now, but I'm keeping it to age and re-test in a few months.

This is delightful! Sour Patch Kid orange-strawberry powdered sugar. Vanilla hiding in the background. I expected this to be more sweet than tart, and while I love how bright and cheerful this is, I'm hoping the vanilla comes out more with some age.

What I'm smelling in the bottle is not what I expected. I was expecting something dark and sinister but this is more like a classic Floral-Oriental perfume. I think the opium poppy is the forerunner here. There's also a lot of powdery opoponax, but very little vetiver and no recognizable black plum...which is the main reason I wanted this. I can see how this would be soapy but it's not a floral soap. It's like a rich perfumey resins soap, which is kind of nice but not what I was going for. I'll keep this for aging and hopefully my nose is just broken and I can eventually smell some black plum. ETA: I tested this before I went running and I noticed the plum later on. It's being beaten into submission by opium but I can smell it regardless. It's a really gorgeous, dark plum.